The Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX) (also called as Chandrayaan-5) is a planned joint

lunar mission Missions to the Moon have been numerous and include some of the earliest space missions, conducting exploration of the Moon since 1959. The first partially successful lunar mission was Luna 1 (January 1959), the first probe to leave Earth ...

by the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

(ISRO) and

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national Aeronautics, air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satell ...

(JAXA). The mission would send an

uncrewed An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehicl ...

lunar lander A lunar lander or Moon lander is a Lander (spacecraft), spacecraft designed to Moon landing, land on the surface of the Moon. As of 2024, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar lander to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing s ...

and

rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

to explore the south pole region of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

no earlier than 2028. It is envisaged to explore the permanently shadowed regions and to determine the quantity and quality of water on the Moon. JAXA is likely to provide the H3

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

and instruments and ISRO would be providing the lander. Both sides will also develop a 250kg lunar rover. LUPEX will follow the planned lunar

sample-return mission A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as lo ...

Chandrayaan-4 Chandrayaan-4 (; from Sanskrit: , "Moon" and , "craft, vehicle") is a planned lunar sample return mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the fourth iteration in its Chandrayaan lunar exploration programme. As of January 202 ...

History

ISRO signed an Implementation Arrangement (IA) in December 2017 for pre-phase A, phase A study and completed the feasibility report in March 2018 with JAXA to explore the polar regions of Moon for

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

with a joint Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX) that would be launched no earlier than 2028. ISRO and JAXA held the Joint Mission Definition Review (JMDR) in December 2018. By the end of 2019, JAXA concluded its internal Project Readiness Review. Since

Chandrayaan-2 Chandrayaan-2 (; from Sanskrit: , "Moon" and , "craft, vehicle") is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, the ''Vikram'' lunar l ...

's lander crashed on the Moon during its landing attempt in September 2019, India started to study a new lunar mission named

Chandrayaan-3 Chandrayaan-3 ( ) is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of Exploration of the Moon, lunar-exploration missions developed by the ISRO, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission consists of a Chandrayaan-2#Vikra ...

as a repeat attempt to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the LUPEX. In a joint statement by JAXA and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

on 24 September 2019, the possibility of NASA joining the LUPEX mission was discussed. JAXA finished its domestic System Requirement Review (SRR) in early 2021. In April 2023, LUPEX Working Group 1 arrived in India to share information of landing site analysis on promised candidate sites, methods of estimating lander and rover position on moon, information of ground antennas for command and telemetry. India's Space Commission authorized ISRO to begin work on the LUPEX mission on 7 October 2024. The union cabinet has received the report, and approval is anticipated shortly, which was received on 14th March 2025. As of February 2025, teams are working on hardware design and development after the project was approved and the configuration study concluded. ISRO also started developmental work for a heavier lander engine.Following the Third Technical Interface Meeting between ISRO and JAXA in May 2025, It was confirmend that the launch vehicle was an H3-24, and

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...

would manufacture the rover.

Overview

The Lunar Polar Exploration mission would demonstrate new surface exploration technologies related to vehicular transport and lunar night survival for sustainable lunar exploration in polar regions. For precision landing it would utilize a feature matching algorithm and navigational equipment derived from JAXA's

Smart Lander for Investigating Moon Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), dubbed "Moon Sniper", was a lunar lander mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The lander's initial launch date in 2021 was postponed until 2023 due to delays in its rideshare, th ...

(SLIM) mission. The lander's payload capacity would be at minimum. The rover would carry multiple instruments by JAXA and ISRO including a drill to collect sub-surface samples from depth. Water prospecting and analysis are also likely to be mission objectives. The missions overall goal will be to study the lunar volatile materials, including lunar water, in the vicinity of a Permanently Shadowed Region at the lunar South pole. The

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

's Exospheric Mass Spectrometer L-band (EMS-L) of PROSPECT mission was originally planned to fly as a payload on the Russian

Luna 27 Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs 1 lander or Luna-Resource-1 lander) One of the main challenges ahead is choosing a specific landing location, according to Inoue Hiroka, a researcher with the Lunar Polar Exploration Project Team at JAXA's Space Exploration Center. Landing at the south polar zone of the Moon is the plan, as it is thought to have a high probability of having water. There aren't many level places in this area, though, that are perfect for landing and guaranteeing adequate lighting and communication. The team intends to make its landing site public as soon as they determine the ideal place, since other nations may select the same area.

Payloads

Some selected Japanese instruments along with the candidate instruments of ISRO and ESA and the invited international collaborators by JAXA. * REsource Investigation Water Analyzer (REIWA): Instrument package of the four instruments. ** Lunar ThermoGravimetric Analyzer (LTGA): Thermogravimetric analyses of the drilled samples for water content. ** TRIple-reflection reflecTrON (TRITON): Identification of chemical species of the volatile component in the drilled samples based on mass spectrometry. ** Aquatic Detector using Optical REsonance (ADORE): Water content measurement in the drilled samples based on cavity ring-down spectrometry. ** ISRO Sample Analysis Package (ISAP): Mineralogical and elemental measurement of the drilled samples. (ISRO) *Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR): Underground radar observation up to 1.5 meter during rover traverse. (ISRO) *Permittivity and Thermo-physical Investigation for Moon's Aquatic Scout (PRATHIMA): For in-situ detection and quantification of water-ice mixed with lunar regolith. The payload consists of a multipurpose probe that will be deployed into ~20-30 cm of the lunar surface to scout and quantify the presence of water-ice. ( PRL/ISRO) *Mid-IR spectrometer (MIR): To detect water and OH signature on the surface. (ISRO) *Advanced Lunar Imaging Spectrometer (ALIS): Near-infrared imaging spectrometer for /OH observation of the surface and drilled regolith. *Neutron Spectrometer (NS): Underground neutron (hydrogen) observation up to one meter during rover traverse. (NASA) * Exospheric Mass Spectrometer for LUPEX (EMS-L): Surface gas pressure and chemical species measurement. (ESA)

References

{{Future spaceflights Missions to the Moon Indian lunar exploration programme Lunar rovers Proposed spacecraft 2028 in spaceflight Japanese Lunar Exploration Program

History

Overview

Payloads

See also

References